How much physical activity do you manage?

Yes yoga is a form of gentle excerise, I do it as I have a back problem, and the gentle exercise helps strengthen the muscles each side of my spine which will help support my damanged spine.
Also yoga makes 'you' aware of poor posture and can hep correct it, which is important when going about your every day life, even in the garden.
I wish I had started yoga a long time ago and then perhaps I would not have the back problem I have now

Mishap I KNOW how you feel. Some days it's very difficult to put a brave face on, isn't it? Yet, I hardly ever mention all my probs to family or friends living nearby. Nice to be able to have a quiet moan on this thread.

greatnanYES!!!!!!

I was a member of a health club but cancelled my membership because I wasn't using it enough. I haven't been very energetic since polymyalgia rheumatica was diagnosed last year, though when I went to France with my sister she dragged me round at high speed! I have almost recovered. I am reliably informed that the caravan site I'm going to with the family has a heated outdoor pool so I will do some swimming every day next week. Promise! And when I get back will have another look at health clubs with decent pools.

Oh, dear, jeni is mad with me - I am putting myself on the naughty step for half an hour.
We need a 'sorry' emoticon.

Why? Greatnan It's okay to be honest.

I think that many adults do not take exercise because school sports were such a drag - let us hope that nowadays exercise in school has a wider scope with dance etc.

Thank you, soop - I certainly had no intention of making anybody feel bad because they were unable to take much exercise, when I replied to the OP.
I had no excuse at all when I was taking none!

You are right, mishap. In my family, there was no notion of sport or exercise, even though my ever slim mother had danced all her life. (And never sat still...) But my wonderful DiL (now an Olympic athletics coach!!!) talks about teaching "body confidence" - something of which those dreadful women who patronised and bullied me during PE etc had no concept.

Oh, how I hated it all.

I am going to pin my hatred of exercise on my horrible PE teacher. The only thing I ever mastered was hanging upside down on the wall bars. She was determined that I was going to vault over the horse, and I was determined that I wasn't. I had to wear glasses from the age of 9 and I was terrified of smashing them and was barely able to see the damned horse without them. I won.
My parents were in their 40s when I was born and as my mother worked full time as well as looking after four children with no domestic appliances she had no time for artificial exercise. My father was never really well, and died at 58 from emphysema.
None of us liked sports - my poor sister once got the strap on her hand for not trying her best at netball. We were great readers and much preferred a good book to any sporting activity.
I did enjoy dancing and went several nights a week from the age of 15 to our little local dance school. I then found roller skating - a perfect way to meet boys as you could skate round on your own without waiting for a boy to ask you. I met my ex-husband in our local roller rink. He taught me all the dances and I was quite good, but I have never been able to master ice skating or in-line skating - I need a wheel at each corner.
I am still not in the least sporty - I just enjoy walking and swimming.

We had the ideal environment when we were children. We played out and went down to the shore with the dog. I learnt to play tennis and, inspired by Wimbledon, we haunted the local courts during the summer holidays. We swam at the outdoor pool or at the North Shore. I suppose it must have rained sometimes! After school there was hockey practice and matches on Saturday morning. I wasn't specially good at any of these games, but I did love them. Oh and our normal mode of transport was our bikes. When I went to University I didn't play games, but we walked everywhere and I used my bike around town. In my 20s in Kenya, there was tennis and squash at the club and I continued to play squash into my 40s when an elbow problem stopped me. I kept up with swimming and later aqua aerobics until the last few years.Having written all this, I realise that, for me, exercise used to be the norm. I need to get back to it.

I used to play badminton quite seriously but have had to give up because of wrist problem but have found I can play short tennis which I love, still pretty active and great fun. Also took up table tennis a couple of years ago and really enjoy that also. Found the gym a bit boring and not very social. Very difficult to find active sports to play when older as all that is generally on offer in our borough for older people is Tai Chi and gentle exercise.

We belong to a health club , which we go twice a week , no more , can"t be allowed to dominate . Mr Nonu goes in the gym and I swim lots of laps We also go for nice walks of about 20 mins or so . Enough for me !!

I too started running about ten years ago to help with my weight loss journey. So far I've completed the Great North Run 5 times but have never attempted a marathon. Congratulations to you Frankel for having done the London Marathon! I find that I have to combine watching what I eat with activity such as walking or jogging to achieve the sort of weight loss I'm aiming for. Flagging motivation and a harsh winter with lots of snow put a stop to my jogging but I've recently downloaded the NHS 'Couch to 5k' podcast to my iPod Shuffle and done the first 2 sessions. The lively music helps me keep going. I used to run with a neighbour, but she's decided to take up hill walking instead. Jogging is a time-effective and reasonably inexpensive route to fitness, so I'm really happy to have started again.

I walk, run up and downstairs, never still. I garden, run around looking after cats and occasionally grandchildren. I paint and decorate. Why would I want to slave away in the gym, get hot and sweaty, and have to pay to do so? So unlike my elder daughter, I am not and never have been, never will be, a gym bunny. But neither am I couch potato (would love the chance. . .)
I am 5'4" and weigh just over 9 stone, fine, thanks!

Someone was saying on BBC the other day "Britons used to exercise more" hmm, not sure if true. I don't remember any of my classmates in school doing any sports at all with the exception of the doctors daughter who did riding. Walking yes, anything more energetic, no.
Apparently the latest research on why energetic exercise tends to be associated with living longer is a link with bowel cancer.
it was a pleasant morning so i went for something that might be called "a jog" for the first time in ages. Must keep it up, because I do like the feeling of having stronger legs and more puff.

Has anyone heard of or indeed even done Biodanza ?
My friend is going to a Biodanza Class later today and all I know thats its seems to be a de-stress excerise and it seems to centre around dance !
She wants me to go with her next week, should I wonder ?

Twelve years ago I swam 30 lengths twice a week, went to aqagym twice a week, walked every lunch time, as a Guide leader did hikes as well as working full time and doing a French course. Overnight all changed when I had a stroke and since then I have not been able to exercise as I would like. I did swimming for the disabled which was good but I preferred a really good swim not the slow going I was able to do. I have swum a little since moving here but there isn't swimming for the disabled where I live and I am not able to join in with regular swimmers. I can just about walk to the kitchen and back to the bedroom then I am all done because of the pain. My husband has helped me with exercises for my legs, moving them for me, but he has been diagnosed with arthritis in his spine and it is too much for him.

I am trying to put together some sitting exercises then might contact my GP and see if there is a group in the area who do exercises for the disabled or I could start one.

When we lose the ability to do things we realise what we took for granted, I know I do.

Burgundy, my sister has angina, high blood pressure, phlebitis and spondylitis so she can only walk for about 15 minutes, using a cane, and she finds it painful to stand for very long. She belongs to a club funded by her local council, and they have a trainer who comes in and leads them in sitting exercises to music. She says it is great fun and they all enjoy it.
She has never been sporty, but she used to enjoy taking her grandchildren for walks in their pushchairs.
I am encouraging her to go to the ladies only swimming sessions, but she is rather shy about wearing a swimming costume because she has curvature of the spine which gives her an odd shape.

Didn't dare go to my yoga class today as my back is a little 'uncomfortable' so I thought I would try a few 'poses' at home, the ones that my yoga teacher has told me is good for backs !
So out comes my yoga mat and I settle myself into a few 'poses' when I can hear DH shouting from the garden 'do you want some spring onions out of the garden' , 'if you like' I answer. Back to the yoga and some deep breathing and whats this I can hear, its the cat purring I open my eyes and there she is almost on top of me ! I try some more deep breathing and a thought pops into my head, he pulled some spring onions then, I can smell them with every breath I take !!!. Roll on next Saturday, and back to my yoga class in peace

Burgundy Gran, I empathise with you. I know how hard it is when one loses one's mobility. Good luck with perhaps starting an exercise class for the disabled, or contacting your GP about it. I used to be very active too but have chronic fatigue now so can only walk for about ten minutes at a time, and go for short bike rides, and do some gentle gardening. I know I am lucky to be able to do this. I did start a local group a few years ago and it was helpful and supportive to be with others in the same boat, thats why it might be a good idea to consider perhaps starting something yourself. Have read that if you close you eyes and imagine yourself taking exercise it produces good chemicals in the body. I sometimes imagine I am cycling through country lanes and it gives me a lift. You might like to try imagining yourself swimming............! Its not the same as actually doing it I know but does create quite a good feeling!

Silverbirch Yes I agree, its got to help to produce good chemicals in the body I believe if you can have happy, restful thoughts it has to make you feel better

I did hear an item on Radio 4 one morning that said a study had found that visualising yourself exercising did actually produce some of the same results as physically doing it.
I often dream that I am dancing on skates and I am disappointed when I wake up because I know I would not be confident enough to do it now, unless I had a good partner.
If I can't sleep, I imagine that first moment when you enter the water and see the coral reef. I was in Egypt with Granjura in June and I can picture the colours and shapes of the corals and fish so vividly. It always sends me off to sleep.

Yeh - right greatnan - the Positive thinking brigade like to tell us that kind of thing, based on flimsy evidence. Not true, alas. Otherwise why would the UK cycling team be training 6 days a week. They could stay in bed and think about winning the tour de france
As long as he gets out of bed tomorrow and stays in the saddle:
Wiggins Wins!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Go Wiggo!